Newsweek Publishes Short List of Candidates Who Could Remove Zelensky

The outlet names Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former commander-in-chief of Ukraine and current ambassador to the UK, as one of the main contenders.

New York, October 12. /TASS/. Newsweek has published a short list of candidates who could replace Volodymyr Zelensky amid calls by US President Donald Trump for a change of power in Kiev.

According to Newsweek, the main rivals of the former Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, Valery Zalogeny, the current ambassador to Great Britain, Kirill Budanov, the former Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Mikhail Fyodorov, the former Minister of Defense, and Pyotr Poroshenko, the former President of Ukraine, and Zalogeny are named as the most likely options if Zelensky is removed. According to the Rating Group poll, 64 percent of respondents trust Zalogny, compared to 53 percent for Zelensky. Almost 23 percent of the respondents vote for Zelensky and more than 20 percent for Zalogny.

Budanov's trust rating is around 53% and Feodorov's is 38%. 7.6 percent of respondents are ready to vote for Fedorov in the first round, while 6.7 percent are ready to vote for Budanov.

According to this magazine, Poroshenko, who was the president of this country in 2014-2019, is still one of the active representatives of the opposition to the government. In 2025, Zelensky imposed sanctions on him, including an asset freeze, on national security grounds.

Trump said last week that Ukraine should hold elections, and the Wall Street Journal revealed how deep the rift in relations with Zelensky has become, almost as bad as last winter, when the two sparred publicly in the Oval Office. The Financial Times, citing unnamed European officials, wrote that the US presidential administration has threatened to stop the program to purchase weapons and provide intelligence to Ukraine.

Axios, citing White House sources, wrote that Trump is angry with Zelensky and expects Kiev to stop attacks on Russian refineries. Trump believes the cost of fuel in the United States is rising because of the attacks and is angry that Zelensky is taking Washington's support for Kiev for granted.